From small beginnings come great things
by evaernst
Summary: It had been ages since someone had tried to flirt with Alma and Alma is Not amused that this seems to change now. But living with children for over 70 years without another grown up around can be quite lonely. Slowly Alma realizes that allowing someone to love her doesn't make her a bad ymbryne. Prompt by plengpoonyapa
1. Chapter 1

**This story is set in Florida after Miss P and the children saved Jake from ending up at an institution. They just moved to their own house and Jake decided to live with the peculiar children.**

 **This story is based on a prompt from** **plengpoonyapa** **. If you haven't checked out her stories yet you should definitely do so! They are awesome!**

 **I don't own anything.**

 **Please tell me what you think! Every review makes me so happy!**

„Now, ring the door bell" Alma ordered. The twins who were clinging to her skirt looked up at her fearfully. Alma smiled at them encouragingly. "Don't worry, I'm here. I'm sure no one is going to rip your heads off."

The twins looked at each other and decided to trust their headmistress. Together they rang the doorbell but as soon as footsteps from inside could be heard the two tried to hide behind Alma as best as they could. Alma chuckled. The door opened and revealed a man who was probably in his mid-thirties. He already had a couple of grey hairs in is otherwise deep brown hair. Laugh lines surrounded his bright blue eyes and a beard emphasized his masculinity.

"Good afternoon, I am sorry to disturb you. My name is Alma Lefay Peregrine and these two boys here are the twins." Alma introduced herself and her children.

"Well, hello Miss…Peregrine" the man said and smiled. He then bended down a bit and waved at the two boys.

"I didn't know it was already Halloween. Anyway, my name is Michael Thompson." He extended his hand which Alma accepted gracefully. She decided to let the Halloween comment slip just this once. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We just moved into the house next to yours. While playing outside the twins accidently kicked their ball over the fence. Would you be so kind as to let me retrieve it from your garden?" Alma explained. The two boys behind her legs nodded shyly but did not dare to look Mr. Thompson in the eyes.

"I see" He said. "This is no problem. I hereby give you the all-time permission to retrieve lost objects from my garden." Mr. Thompson smiled sympathetically.

"See" Alma said to the twins. "This was no problem at all. There is no reason to be afraid. What do we say?"

The twins mumbled something in their own language and then turned around. They ran into Mr. Thompson's garden to retrieve their beloved ball.

"You've got some nice boys there. But why…are they alright?" Mr. Thompson asked Alma. Alma frowned and immediately resumed a rigid posture.

"All of my children are nice. Why should they not be alright?" Alma asked coldly. That was the last thing she needed. The move two days ago had been exhausting enough. She didn't have the energy to deal with some overly curious and disrespectful man she barely knew. It was not worth the effort. She should be home by now continuing to unpack the many boxes with their belongings instead of dealing with an uncomprehending normal man.

Mr. Thompson who obviously sensed that his question had made the woman in front of him not happy at all considered his reply for a couple of seconds. "Well, because they are wearing a costume that even conceals their face and you cannot tell me that what they just said were words in any human language."

"Are you implying that my children are not human? How dare you! You have no idea what you are talking about! I will not have some random guy insult my children. It was very nice of you to give us the permission to retrieve their toy but this conversation ends here and now. I wish you a good day." Alma growled angrily. It took her everything not lose her temper altogether. Deep down she knew that she probably wasn't fair but she was tired and it had been a long day and that man was much too bold for her liking. She turned around and climbed down the stairs which proofed to be difficult for her since her troubled leg was even worse than usual.

"Boys!" She called and immediately the twins were at her side and they made their way back to the house.

Mr. Thompson observed dumbfounded how the three made their way back home.

'Well, that escalated quickly' He thought to himself and went back inside. This first encounter probably was only the start of a very interesting time to come.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for your feedback to the first chapter! I'll try to keep it slow burn and I hope I can stick to it because from time to time I'm a little impatient.**

 **Maybe you wonder if this is movie verse or book verse and the answer is: a bit of both. I took the freedom to pick my favorite bits from the movie and the book.**

It was several days later when suddenly someone knocked on the door. Alma stopped mid-motion and placed the books she was just about to unpack back inside one of the many boxes piling up inside their new living room. It was unbelievable how many things they already possessed only a couple of month after their home on Clairnholm had been destroyed.

All of her children were exploring their new garden and so Alma had to open the door herself.

"Hello" There was a little girl standing in front of her. She was probably a bit older than Claire but still younger than the twins.

"Hello, there. Who are you?" Alma smiled at the girl.

"I'm Kathy."

"Hello Kathy, I'm Miss Peregrine. What can I do for you?" Alma asked curiously. The girl in front of her started bouncing up and down in excitement.

"I saw that that there are a looot of children playing in your garden. I would like to play with them!" Alma laughed. Secretly she had hoped that the children would get a chance make contact with new people and she was happy and a bit surprised to see that they were coming so willingly to their doorstep. Normally wherever they went they were avoided and regarded with suspicion.

"Does your mother or father know that you are here?" Alma asked to reassure herself.

"Yes, my daddy knows!" Kathy nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, then follow me. I'm sure my children will be happy to meet you! They always look for new playmates" Alma guided the girl through the house to the back door. The girl looked around curiously and squealed happily at the sight of the bushes that Fiona grew this morning just like they were back on Clairnholm.

"One more thing, Kathy. Maybe you will find that we are not like everybody else…we are peculiar." Alma said slowly contemplating how much to explain.

"That's fine." Kathy answered. "My daddy says that everybody is special."

"Well, your father seems to be a wise man but we are more special than you can probably imagine."

"Are you dangerous?" Kathy suddenly asked frowning.

Alma laughed wholeheartedly. "No, absolutely not. But I don't want you to be frightened when you see something that you cannot explain, alright?"

Kathy nodded although she had no idea what the nice lady was talking about. Alma and Kathy left the house and stepped into the beautiful garden.

Closest to the house were Enoch and Olive sitting in the grass. Enoch was fixing one of his dolls that had been broken in the last fight. Olive was reading a book. Alma quickly introduced Kathy to her oldest charges. Then they made their way over to where Bronwyn, Claire and the twins were playing tag. Alma sighed as she saw how some of the children's clothes were ripped after Bronwyn obviously had been a little too enthusiastic while catching the others.

"Children, this is Kathy. She's one of our new neighbors and she would like to play with you." Alma explained to her children who had stopped playing as soon as they saw the two approaching.

"Yes! Of course, come on." Bronwyn ran over to Kathy and tapped her on the shoulder. "It's your turn!"

Kathy laughed and immediately started chasing the twins. Alma watched them play for a couple of minutes before deciding to continue her work inside.

From time to time she looked outside to see if the children were still playing peacefully with each other. Alma was impressed at how Kathy handled the new situation. It didn't bother her that some of her clothes were already ripped, that the two boys hid their face behind a mask and even the mouth at the back of Claire's head didn't seem to scare her. Maybe every child, peculiar or not, had the special ability to accept the people around them just as they were. Perhaps introducing normal children to peculiarities and showing them that they were not dangerous was the solution to prevent ostracism and persecution in the future. However, her children and Kathy were getting along really well and the time flew by quickly and soon it was five o'clock.

Alma went outside to inquire if Kathy wanted to stay for dinner. But the little girl declined politely. Her daddy was probably already waiting for her to come home. Just as she was explaining how they were always having dinner at 5:30 sharp the doorbell rang once more.

"Oh! That's probably him!" Kathy said and excitedly ran around the house to the front door. Alma followed a couple of meters behind. When he walked around the corner and saw who was standing in front of her door she wanted to turn around immediately. But that would have been impolite. Instead Alma took a deep breath and extended her hand to greet Kathy's father.

"Mr. Thompson, what a pleasure."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for all your encouraging feedback! Please keep it up! I'm happy for every single review!**

"Miss Peregrine. I hope you didn't mind my daughter coming over. She was complaining once more that there are hardly any children living around to play with and because you said that your kids were very nice I suggested that she should come over here to play with your children." Mr. Thompson explained and put a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"Of course I didn't mind. Maybe you remember that I'm very well able to express my discontent if I feel the need to. Your daughter is a very nice girl and she got along with my young ones very well. Didn't you Kathy?" Alma asked. Her voice immediately became soft when she directed her words at the young child. Kathy nodded happily.

"Can I come back tomorrow?"

Alma laughed at the girl's enthusiasm. "Of course, just come over whenever you like. Maybe you should wear something old tomorrow then you don't have to worry about your clothes getting ripped or dirty"

Mr. Thompson looked at his daughter questionably. "What happened to your clothes?"

"We just played, daddy!" Kathy explained in all honesty. "Bronwyn is really strong! It was like my clothes were made out of paper!"

"I'm of course willing to come up for your daughter's clothes, Mr. Thompson." Alma offered generously but Mr. Thompson shook his head.

"No it's fine. Children will be children. They need to play and from time to time that means grovel through dirt. You know my wife always said that if children return home clean they did not have any fun." Mr. Thompson explained.

"You are married?" Alma asked having missed out on the past tense.

"I was. She died three years ago from cancer." Mr. Thompson answered and after a couple of seconds. Alma could see the change in his posture. Suddenly he looked so much older and the way Kathy clung to her father almost broke Alma's heart.

"I am truly sorry to hear that." Alma answered honestly. She did not know what to further reply to that private information.

"But this is a story for another time. I also wanted to apologize for being so insensitive when we first met. It is absolutely non of my business why your twins prefer to wear this kind of clothing and I never wanted to imply that your children might not be human. I mean I of course cannot be sure because I haven't seen them properly yet but if you say so I believe you" Mr. Thompson said and extended his hand.

Despite herself Alma smiled at his comment and accepted his hand. "Well, I am sorry too. I should not have snapped."

"Now, that we have sorted this out maybe we can start anew." Mr. Thompson suggested. "Miss Peregrine, it is very nice to meet you. To welcome you, your partner and your children to our neighborhood I would like to invite you to dinner at my house on Saturday. I will not accept no as an answer."

"Mr. Thompson, this is a very nice offer which you will surely regret as soon as I tell you how many children I have." Alma replied and chuckled at his surprised facial expression.

"She's right, daddy! There are lots of children!" Kathy told him seriously.

"How many?" Mr. Thompson asked and raised his eyebrow.

"Twelve…but I don't have a partner so that would make us thirteen guests at your house." Alma said and put her hands on her waist.

"Twelve? Well, that is…a lot. You are quite young for having twelve children." Mr. Thompson replied surprised. Alma shrugged.

"Although, I love them as if they were my own I am only their caretaker. But believe me, I am not as young as one might think" Alma explained. Mr. Thompson took a moment to compose himself after this revelation before he returned to his usual funny self.

"Well, as a matter of fact I consider it rude to take back invitations so my offer still stands. Sunday at 5:30?"

"That would be very nice, thank you"

"Will Bronwyn, Claire and the twins come too?" Kathy asked excitedly.

"Yes, I think so. I'm sure they will look forward to it" Alma answered the little girl.

"Uh, great! Daddy, can show them my dolls? They are really pretty!" Kathy looked at her father with pleading eyes.

"Of course. But now we go home and have dinner before it gets cold. Goodbye Miss Peregrine. I will see you on Sunday."

"Goodbye Mr. Thompson. Thank you for the invitation."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everybody!**

 **This is chapter 4 and I can only tell you once more how happy I am that so many of you are still reading this story. Thank you very much!**

 **I have to disappoint those of you who already expected the dinner. There are still some questions to answer before. But don't worry, the dinner will happen soon!**

Over the next couple of days Alma tried to suppress her nervousness. Looking back, it had been a stupid idea to accept the invitation. In that moment, she had felt happy at receiving an invitation because that had never happened before. She just wanted her children to be able to be part of the normal world and he seemed to provide an entrance to this world. But her children and herself were not normal, they were peculiar after all and there was hardly any situation when their peculiarity became more prominent than during dinner. How would Mr. Thompson react? Kathy was not at all bothered by the peculiar things she had witnessed by now. The little girl had come over every day to play with her young ones and by now she had witnessed all of Alma's young ones' peculiarities first hand. Although Kathy was extremely tolerant her father might not be. The last thing Alma wanted was that Mr. Thompson would lose it tomorrow and would throw them out of his house. She had to talk to him first.

Alma went to her room and got her new photo album. After her beloved photo album from Clairnholm had been destroyed when her loop collapsed she had been very sad but her children had sent letters to all the other British ymbrynes and asked them for photos. All of them had put so much love in the album that it turned out to be much more beautiful than her old one had been. She had never received a better birthday present.

Alma made her way out of the house. It took her less than two minutes to get to Mr. Thompson's front door. She quickly rang the doorbell and only a couple of seconds later Mr. Thompson opened the door.

"Oh, Miss Peregrine. Is everything all right? Is something wrong with Kathy?" Immediately his voice turned worried. Alma quickly shook her head.

"No, they are playing together in our garden. But I am here because I need to talk to you." Alma explained and quickly stepped inside the house when Mr. Thompson took a step to the side to let her in. He guided her to the living room and offered her something to drink which she declined. The two sat down at a wooden table. Alma could not help noticing the beautiful interior of the house. Everything was elegant and delicate. To her mind it was beautiful but a little bit too cold and clean for her liking. On a small table next to a huge book shelf was the picture of a woman with deep brown eyes and long shiny brown hair. That was probably his passed away wife.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" He asked curiously. Alma placed her photo album in front of him. He looked at her confused.

"What is this?"

"This is my photo album. I'm here to explain something to you before we come over for dinner tomorrow. Open the book and you will understand." Alma said calmly. Mr. Thompson did as he was told. For a couple of minutes no one said a word and the only sound was made by the turning of the pages.

"Where did you find those pictures? Or did you edit them yourself? Is this some kind of hobby of yours, editing pictures until they look…crazy." Mr. Thompson was more than confused. He could not look away from a picture of Millard.

"I did not edit the pictures in any way. Those photos display the reality. The boy you are looking at is Millard, one of my charges." Alma explained. She reached over the table and turned the page to show Mr. Thompson a group photo of all of her charges and herself. "Here you see all of my children with their peculiarities."

"Peculiarities?"

"Yes, peculiarities." Alma then pointed at each of her children in the picture and explained their peculiarity. After she had finished Mr. Thompson stood up and walked to a nearby cupboard. He poured himself a glass of brandy. Then he turned around and looked at Alma.

"May I ask a question?" Mr. Thompson asked. Alma nodded. "If a person can move things with their mind, is this person peculiar too?"

Alma thought about it for a moment. "Well, it definitely sounds like it but I'd have to take a closer look at this person."

"It's my daughter."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everybody! This is already chapter 5 and I am so happy to see that so many of you seem to enjoy this story. Thank you so much also for your ideas and the input. You are awesome!**

Alma looked at Mr. Thompson in surprise. "Kathy?"

Mr. Thompson nodded. "Yes, she started doing _it_ when she was barely one year old. Would you mind taking a look at her tomorrow?"

Alma shrugged. "If it helps you but being peculiar is not an illness and I cannot make it go away and not that I wanted to do it even if I could. Being peculiar makes you _more_ not less."

"I know, I know. I would never want her to be different, but I am worried that she might have difficulties in life being…peculiar as you call it." Mr. Thompson sighed and let his hand run through his hair.

"I know this must be difficult for you but you should accept your daughter like she is because she is a wonderful little girl. Believe me there are more obvious peculiarities than being a Telekinetic." Alma explained. "All of my children had parents that abandoned them because they were different. Most of them were scared of these poor and innocent children. Don't do this to you daughter. You have no idea how long it took me to rebuild my children's confidence."

Mr. Thompson looked Alma directly into the eye. "I would _never_ give my daughter away. She is perfect just as she is and I would love her even if she had three eyes and two heads. I would protect her with my life. But the world outside is so complex especially for people who are different."

Alma nodded. She shared the same fear. "I know. But as long as our children have us, they are never going to be alone. Maybe it's a comfort for you that there are women like me all over the planet that protect peculiar children."

"May I ask a possibly offensive question?" Mr. Thompson asked. Alma frowned and shrugged. Mr. Thompson took that as a yes. " _What_ are you?"

Alma laughed. "I am an ymbryne. Ymbrynes are always female and have the ability to turn into a bird and to manipulate time. We use the ability to choose a save day to create a loop. A loop preserves the last 24 hours. If a loop is reset every day one can stay there forever."

"You can turn into a bird? Which bird?"

Alma raised her eyebrow. "My name is Alma Lefay _Peregrine_. Now take a guess."

"Oh. Sorry, stupid question…but does that mean that all…ymbrynes' call themselves like the bird they can turn into?" Alma nodded. For a couple of minutes Mr. Thompson said nothing as he was thinking about what Alma had just said.

"A loop? So we all live in your loop?" He then asked.

"No, currently we are not living in a loop because there is no eminent danger that I have to protect my children from. We lived inside a loop for over 70 years and believe me we are all happy that the time moves on normally now." Alma explained and Mr. Thompson gaped.

"70 years?!"

"Yes, as you might remember I told you I am not as young as I look" Alma chuckled at his confused face.

"Okay, I didn't expect that. You are probably glad to hear that you look quite well for your age." Mr. Thompson had obviously caught himself enough to make jokes again. Alma decided not to comment his statement but deep down she felt a bit flattered. Not that she would ever admit that.

"I am happy to hear that obviously nothing gets in the way of an enjoyable evening tomorrow. Is there anything I shall bring? Maybe dessert?" Alma offered and stood up.

"I will definitely not decline such an offer. I enjoy cooking a lot but I am not very fond of making dessert." Mr. Thompson admitted.

"Well, then, I will come up with something. Don't worry, desserts are my guilty pleasure." Alma laughed and held out her hand to say goodbye to her neighbor.

"I am looking forward to dessert then. Goodbye Miss Peregrine."

"Goodbye"


	6. Chapter 6

**I am very sorry that it took me so long to update this story. I hope that from now on I can update regularly again but I can't promise anything.**

 **Thank you again for your kind words. I will quickly answer the guest reviews that I could not contact personally:**

 **LadyMorphine: Thank you for your tips! I'll definitely take a look at it. I took the freedom to choose my favorite bits from book!Alma and movie!Alma and mix them up.**

 **Soup42222 and all the other guests that encouraged me to update so soon: thank you so much for your kind words!**

"Come on everybody, otherwise we're going to be late!" Alma yelled. She was already standing outside the house waiting for her children to finally be ready to go. Alma carried a giant cake in her arms, nicely decorated and looking delicious.

One child after the other ran out of the house, some still struggling to get their shoes on. It was 5:25 and still not all of her children were ready. Alma was so close to having a fit. There was hardly anything she despised more than being late. At two minutes before they were supposed to be at Mr. Thompson's house finally all of her children were gathered in front of the house.

"Very well children, now that we are _finally_ ready we will now have dinner with Mr. Thompson and Kathy. But before we go, please remember the rules we discussed. We want to present us in the best way possible-"

"so that we'll be invited again!" Clair exclaimed in excitement. Especially the younger ones had been looking forward to this evening for days. They had never been invited to dinner before.

"Claire, it's rude to invite yourself to another person's house, but…but in the end, yes, that's what I meant. Now, that we've discussed that, let's go!" Alma turned around and marched over to her neighbor and the children were following her on her heels. At 5:30 sharp they rang the doorbell and an exited Kathy opened the door. She wore a beautiful pink dress and clean white shoes. Mr. Thompson obviously cared that she was presented in the best way possible for this occasion. Well, she had done the same with her children after all.

Mr. Thompson appeared behind his daughter and ushered the guests inside. Alma offered her cake to him. "Could you place this one in the fridge, please? It's best if it stays cold until we eat it."

Mr. Thompson's eyes became bigger and bigger at the sight of the delicious dessert. "That looks absolutely amazing! If it even tastes half as good as it looks I might just change my mind concerning dessert." Alma only laughed.

Mr. Thompson led them to the dining room. There was a huge table where all fifteen people would have enough space to eat. The table was already almost breaking underneath huge amounts of food: Salats, sauces, vegetables, different kind of meat, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, bread, noodles, rice…

The eyes of the children became big. "I think I've never seen so much food on one table" Millard exclaimed in awe. Alma raised her eyebrows. "You act as if I would let you starve"

No one answered because everybody was too much in a hurry to secure the best places in front of the for their liking most tasteful food. In the end Mr. Thompson and Alma ended up at the two endings of the table. It was unbelievable how much noise thirteen children were able to make. Alma desperately tried to get her children to calm down but at the prospect of the delicious food they were about to get that was a hopeless mission.

Suddenly Mr. Thompson stood up and used his fork to carefully tapped against his glass of wine. The children became quiet. "Before we eat I would like to officially welcome you tonight. Let me tell you how happy I am to have you as my guests. Before you moved here this street was as ordinary as a street could be and unbelievably boring. Now I'm sure that we are all going to have so much fun and that you are an enrichment for our community. Furthermore, Miss Peregrine, I am very glad that we managed to overcome our difficulties from the beginning and I would like to suggest that we could go over to first-name basis. What do you think?"

Alma smiled and raised her own glass of wine. "Thank you for the invitation, Michael."

"You are very welcome, Alma."

The children cheered happily and decided to take the end of Michael's speech as the signal to start dinner. The food tasted even better than it looked, it was absolutely amazing. Soon they had eaten so much that they literally felt like they were bursting if they were just eating one more bite. Alma looked happily from one of her children to the other. She had hardly ever seen them so happy. Although it had been difficult for her to move to Florida at first because she didn't like change at all it turned out as probably one of the best decisions she had ever made. Suddenly she caught Michael looking at her. Alma who never shied away from eye contact in return looked directly back. Michael in return blushed slightly, smiled and quickly directed his glance at his daughter who was sitting next to Claire. Alma frowned and chuckled. How odd.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter, please enjoy!**

 **UPDATE: I am terribly sorry that I accidently uploaded the wrong chapter yesterday. Obviously I cannot count til seven -.- Anyway, I hope everything is correct now ;)**

Over the next couple of days Michael seemed to spend more time at the home for peculiar children than at his own home. He and his daughter were having dinner with Alma and the children every evening. It had begun the day after Alma and the children had been over at Michael's house for dinner. He had not been invited and had simply asked if he could join them for dinner and Alma could not find a reason as to why decline his inquire. From this day on he help her shop and worked in the garden. Alma could not bring herself to tell him that Fiona could do everything he did in just a blink of the eye. But he managed to fix the light in the cellar which had been broken for over a week now. All in all, Alma had come to value his help greatly. She did not understand fully why he spent so much time at their house but she guessed that he must feel pretty lonely since his wife had died. To be honest, she didn't mind the company either. Having lived on an island for over seventy years had also taken a toll on her as she had felt pretty lonely from time to time as well only being surrounded by children. Not that she would not love her children, quite the contrary to be exact but with no other adults around life soon became very…monotone. Of course she could always call her sisters because they could of course understand her very well. As a young ymbryne she could not understand why some of her sisters refused to care for children on their own. In the beginning she had enjoyed her independence too much to even consider teaming up with other ymbryne. But soon she understood. There were hardly ymbrynes that were living in a relationship. There were of course some who had found love in another ymbryne or peculiar but that was far from common. After all only peculiars were able to enter loops so there were not many options to choose from for an ymbryne. For a long time, already when they had not yet lived inside a loop, Alma had talked herself into believing that she could not be in a relationship because that would mean that she was putting someone before her children which she vowed never to do. She told herself that every night before going to bed and in the end, she believed it. Looking back, it had only been a protection mechanism to get over some horrible encounters with men before she had found her children. Most of her dates or short relationships had ended when the man finally realized that something was odd about her. Hardly anyone had ever found about about her peculiarity, often men were claiming that she was 'crazy' and some even went as far as calling her possessed by a demon. She was probably not the easiest person to be around anyway even when you forgot about her peculiarity. It was probably not meant to me-that's at least what she had told herself. No matter how hard she tried however those words didn't help to dampen the heartbreak over every single time that she had been dumped. But now that they were not living in a loop anymore everything could change. Could. If it were not for the voices in her head still telling her that she was about to neglect her children. She had spent so much time in talking herself into believing that she could only ever have either a man or her children that it seemed almost impossible now for her to think otherwise. She would never say it out loud but enjoying Michael's company always led to her feeling guilty. After all he was now consuming time that she had before spent with her children. This was a daily struggle and the mixture of joy and guilt often made her cry herself to sleep.

Alma was deeply lost in those thoughts when Michael entered the kitchen where she was washing the dishes.

"You know, I don't understand why you refuse to use the dishwasher. It would make your life so much easier." He grabbed a towel that had been carelessly thrown over the back of a chair and started to dry the dishes.

"Oh, it's a habit I guess. I also find it quite relaxing. It gives you time to think." Alma answered mindlessly. Michael looked at her closely. How could he have missed the dark circles under her eyes and the way her shoulders had sagged? There were several loose strands of hair and her make-up was slightly smeared as if she had brushed over her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked tired, really tired. Slowly as if not to startle her he placed a hand on her forearm.

"Alma, are you alright?"

She looked up directly into his eyes. For the first time he understood why people called the eyes the window to the soul. The only problem was that right now he didn't like at all what he saw behind this window. Worry, pain, guilt and fear. He had the sudden urge to take all those bad feelings off her and replace them with joy and happiness.

"Of course, I am fine. Do not worry about me."


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everybody! This is chapter 8 already and slowly but surely the story is progressing. For those of you who have not seen it yet, I've corrected chapter 7 after I messed up the update.**

For a moment Michael contemplated whether or not to say something. She was a grown woman after all and it was actually non of his business even if deep down he wished otherwise. But then he thought about all the children that were dependent on their headmistress who had to be in her best mental and physical state to care for them.

"Rellay? You don't look as everything was alright." Michael answered carefully. The memory of Alma snapping at him at their first encounter still fresh in his memory. Although he didn't know this woman for very long he knew that she was beyond complicated. It was intriguing.

"What do you mean?" Alma asked and quickly looked away. Suddenly a little spot on one of the plates was the most interesting thing in the world.

"You look tired. Don't you sleep very well?" Michael asked.

"I don't see how this is any of your business." Alma answered coldly.

"Please, Alma don't do this." Michael said silently and looked sadly the small woman in front of him.

"Do what?" Alma asked confused.

"Shutting me out. Alma I don't want to annoy you or poke my nose into your stuff. I just tell you what I see. I can see that something is bothering you and I am merely offering my help. I know that you don't need anybody to look after you-especially not a man, I guess. But isn't it nice from time to time to have someone to talk to?" Michael said and placed a comforting hand on the small of Alma's back and stepped closer. Alma dropped the plate in her hand and quickly took a step back. She took her hands up in defense. Shocked at the obvious gesture of discomfort Michael took a step back himself.

"Please-" Alma whispered. From a couple of meters away Michael could see tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. She blinked heavily to prevent them from falling but to no vain. A single tear rolled down her cheek. Alma spun around and left the kitchen with quick steps. Soon he could hear her limp up the stairs.

"I am sorry" Michael whispered. He placed his face in his hands and groaned. He should have known that she would feel cornered. In younger years his friends had often called him a predator. In clubs he had chosen a woman to take home and often he had managed to convince the women to come with him. Needless to say that he had hardly ever needed a lot of convincing. It had all changed when he had met his wife. She had been difficult to get-it had posed a to him until this point unknown challenge. She had been a quiet person and had not been interested in being in a relationship and it had been hard work to proof her that he was worth it. Married life had changed him again. He had become a father and husband. His college days with wild parties and alcohol were forgotten and he dedicated his whole life to his family. After his wife had died everything had changed again. Now he was only a father and he missed the days he spent with his wife. Especially the quiet evenings in front of the television or simply reading a book and drinking a glass of wine together.

And now there was Alma who had never been married in her life. She was very private about her past but every time she spoke of it she was talking about her children. She actually never spoke of anything else than her children. Her children were her life. For a moment Michael wondered whether ymbrynes were even allowed to be in a relationship. She was probably afraid. Afraid of the proximity, afraid of neglecting her duties and maybe even afraid of him. Even though nothing had happened yet. He didn't know himself what he wanted. For now he was simply enjoying spending time with another adult-for now. But that was probably enough for a woman who was used to having her things go a certain way to be afraid.

He sighed again. What a difficult situation. He finished washing the dishes and made his way outside. He decided that it was time for some insider information. There was hardly anyone who knew Alma better than her children.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello again! Thank you all for your continued support! Here's chapter 9, I hope you like it.**

Claire was sitting on the porch, a doll in each of her hands. Obviously the two dolls were quarreling over something. The little girl was so engaged in her game that she didn't realize how Michael watched her. After a couple of minutes Michael decided to interrupt the game.

"What's their problem?" He asked and sat down across from Claire. Claire looked up in surprise and smiled happily.

"They are fighting over who's more pretty" She explained. "What do you think?"

"Well" Michael answered, "I think they are both pretty in their own unique way." Claire didn't look satisfied at all.

"That's the kind of answer that Miss P would give too. But I don't like it, it's not a proper answer."

"So, what do you think?" Michael asked curiously. Claire raised the doll with the red dress in her left hand. To Michael she looked almost exactly like the doll with the yellow dress in her right hand. The two were only different in the clothes they wore. "And why is that?"

"I don't like yellow." Claire answered as a matter of fact. Michael chuckled. "I see" Claire offered the doll with the yellow dress to him and the two started playing together.

"What are you doing out here? Where is Miss P?" Claire asked without looking at Michael. "Is she crying again?"

Michael stopped mid motion in surprise. "Uhm, Claire, what do you mean by that?"

"Well, her bedroom is right next to mine and I can hear her crying herself to sleep at night. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night because I can feel her looking at me from across the room." Claire explained sadly. Michael made his doll hug Claire's.

"Do you know why she is so sad all the time?" Michael asked quietly. He didn't want to push her into giving an answer. Claire didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. They continued playing silently with the dolls.

"I think she is scared" Claire suddenly whispered so quietly that Michael had almost missed it.

"What is she scared of?" Michael wanted to know. Claire shrugged.

"Miss P doesn't like change" Claire answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We've lost our home back in Wales a couple of months ago. Also, she probably misses the other birds that are still back in Great Britain. And she is constantly worried that we might not be happy." Claire paused for a couple of seconds before adding "Enoch says that she is afraid of you."

Michael looked at her in surprise. "Me? But I would never do anything to her."

Claire shrugged and looked away. "I don't want you to make her sad."

To Michael this felt like someone had stabbed him with a knife directly into his heart. He placed two fingers under the little girl's chin and carefully made her look him in the eyes.

"Claire, I promise you that I would never hurt her voluntarily, okay?" Michael explained seriously. Claire bit her bottom lip nervously and thought about it for a couple of seconds. Then she nodded. Michael smiled at her. "Good."

Michael handed the doll back to Claire. "Thank you, Claire, for talking to me." Claire took the doll back and without another word started playing again.

Michael made his way back into the house and slowly climbed down the stairs to the cellar. He was looking for Enoch. He had to know what the boy meant when he said that he made Alma sad. He reached a wooden door and knocked forcefully against it. Michael didn't expect an answer from the grumpy boy so he decided to simply open the door. Quickly he scanned the room and finally found it to be empty.

"May I ask what you are doing there?" Someone asked from behind him and he jumped.

"Dear lord, boy, you scared me!" Michael breathed breathlessly. "I am sorry, I didn't want to invade your privacy. I was merely looking for you."

Enoch strode past Michael into his lab and Michael followed without waiting for an invitation.

"I saw you talking to Claire" Enoch said. He sat down at his table and started working on one of his dolls. Those dolls looked positively terrifying. "You were interrogating her about Miss P."

"I was not _interrogating_ her" Michael answered slightly annoyed. "I simply wanted to talk to her because all of you know your headmistress much better than I do. I am worried about her."

"So are we. But for different reasons I guess." Enoch answered calmly while stitching the ripped torso of a doll with a porcelain head.

"Why are you worried about Alma?" Michael asked knowing that he would probably not like the answer.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello everybody! Finally, here comes chapter 10! I cannot believe how much feedback I receive for this story. I am so happy that so many of you obviously enjoy this story. Please keep up your support!**

"Do you have any idea how selfish you are? Since we met you Miss P is a mess! She is crying every night, she cannot sleep and she spends hours just watching us from across the room." Enoch hissed angrily. Michael had already learned that although the boy was grumpy and angry most of the time he definitely had a soft spot for his ymbryne. He would protect her at all costs.

"But why? Please, Enoch, I would never want her to be sad. I don't understand what is bothering her like that." Michael answered taken aback.

"But that's what you obviously do! Because before she was fine and now she is not!" Enoch slammed his fist on the table. "I have no idea what you do to her or why she is not kicking you out but whatever it is needs to stop!" Enoch took a deep breath.

"I agree" Michael answered and for a quick moment Enoch's angry face slipped into surprise. "Enoch, is there any…rule that would keep your headmistress…away from me."

Enoch looked at the man across him for a minute thinking about what he was implying. "Do you want to know if there is any rule that would forbid her to be with you? Why would she want that anyway? Wait, do _you_ want to be with her?"

Oh lord, that boy was definitely annoying Michael. "Is there a rule like that? And the rest doesn't need to bother you. I never implied that I was interested in any way…and by the way I'm not a bad catch" Michael immediately regretted his childish answer. He was supposed to be the grown up here.

Enoch raised his eyebrow. "No, as far as I know there is no such rule but it is very uncommon for an ymbryne to be in a relationship. You have to understand that for an ymbryne her children always come first. Also, it is quite difficult to find someone who can live in a loop because only peculiars can do so."

Michael thought about what the boy had said for a minute. "And what do you think about that?"

Enoch was taken by surprise at Michael's question. "I don't know what you mean."

"Well, would you mind your ymbryne being in a relationship? Would you think that she was neglecting you?"

Enoch frowned and shrugged. "What a stupid question. Of course not. Miss P would never neglect us in any way. She loves us and we love her. We are family. But she doesn't need a man. She's strong herself."

Michael considered his next words carefully. Obviously there was more to the boy's protective behavior than he originally thought. "Of course she is. She is an unbelievably strong woman looking after twelve children, keeping up a household and looking after a loop for such a long time" Enoch nodded approvingly.

"Look, Enoch. I understand you. I get that you don't see the necessity that anything changes, but did you never think about that your Miss Peregrine might be a bit…lonely from time to time?" Michael continued and Enoch suddenly looked uncomfortable. He quickly looked away and began working on his doll again. For a couple of minutes silence filled the room as Enoch thought about an answer.

"She's got us" Enoch then said quietly. Michael took a tentative step towards the table as if not to invade the young man's privacy too much.

"Of course she does and she loves all of you like nothing else in this world. But you are children and she is an adult that is entrusted with your wellbeing. Did you never consider that it would be good for her to have someone to look after her wellbeing from time to time?" Michael asked and from the expression on Enoch's face he realized that he had hit a soft spot. He was worried about Alma.

"I often told the Bird that she works too much. She cleans the house, cooks dinner, teaches us, gets us food and clothes and she's always there for us when we need her. I can sometimes hear her calling her friends back in England and talking to them." Enoch nodded. "She sometimes says that she…wishes for someone to talk to."

Michael could hardly suppress a smile of satisfaction. He knew it! Enoch who had seen him smile quickly added "Talking! She said talking!"

"Who said that I have anything different than talking in my mind?" Michael asked innocently. Enoch threw him a dark glance before getting back to his work.

"Because I can see it in your eyes! I will not allow Miss P's heart being broken by any man who comes along! She is something special and she therefore deserves something special! You don't know anything about her" Enoch hissed, his anger suddenly returning.

"Enoch, I know you probably won't believe me now but I have no intention of hurting her. I want to get to know her better. She's a grown-up woman, Enoch. It is her decision and I will respect it whether it is in my favor or not." Michael explained calmly.

"I think you should go now"

Michael sighed, turned around and walked towards the door. Just before leaving the room he turned around and faced Enoch again.

"You know, I won't take her away from you. That is a promise."

Then he left.


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm sorry it took me so long to update this story! Thank you everyone for sticking with me!**

It had been a couple of days since Michael had last talked to Alma. After his conversation with Enoch he had returned upstairs to check whether Alma had returned which had not been the case. Feeling uncomfortable to be alone in her house when she was obviously not in the mood for company he had decided to leave. He didn't want to put any more pressure on her so he had stayed away and hoped the she would make the first step to rekindle their…whatever it was called. But until now she hadn't. The longer she took the more he worried that she might be permanently angry at him. She suddenly felt lonely every time she thought about her and his heart stung every evening when Kathy returned from their house and told him about her day. He just wished to have a reason to go over himself.

Day after day like this passed and he became more and more desperate. In the beginning, he tried not to ask his daughter about Alma as not to worry his little girl but as the days went by he tried to include subtle questions into their dinner conversation. He learned that Alma seemed to be fine judging from her actions.

"Well, she asked about you too!" She suddenly added when Michael thought that their conversation was already over. Michael looked at her in surprise.

"She did?" He asked and could hardly control himself at the joy he felt. Man, he should definitely pull himself together, he was a grown man after all and not some lovesick teenager.

Kathy nodded. "She wanted to know how you were doing and if you were busy. Daddy, when you want to know if she is fine and she wants to know if you are fine…why don't the two of you just talk to each other?"

"Well, Kathy-"

"You could come over with me tomorrow, I am sure she would be pleased!" Kathy exclaimed happily.

At the same time Alma sat in the parlor and knitted. She wanted to try out a new pattern and this always put her in a good mood. Actually it was so good that she was quietly humming a song she had heard on the radio earlier that day. She was sitting in a rocking chair that she had found in an antique shop a couple of weeks ago and was slightly rocking back and forth. This kind of motion always made her sleepy and the blankets across her knees were not making it better. All in all Alma was feeling better than she had in a long time.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and for a moment Alma considered not saying anything and delaying whoever wanted anything from her to later. But she dismissed this idea immediately. She was an ymbryne after all and as such it was her duty to care for her children no matter what.

"Come in"

Enoch entered the parlor looking uncomfortable. "Enoch, what may I do for you?"

Enoch cleared his throat and nervously pulled at his sleeve. Alma raised her eyebrow and motioned for him to sit on the couch next to her rocking chair. Enoch did as he was told without looking his ymbryne in the eyes. Alma took Enoch's hand in her own and squeezed it encouragingly.

"What's wrong, my boy? Did you have a fight with Olive? Or one of the others? Are you not feeling well? You can tell me!" Alma looked at her oldest charge with worry in her eyes as his bottom lip quivered and he hardly could contain the tears in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry" He suddenly whimpered and threw his arms around her neck in buried his face in her shoulder. "I didn't mean to, I swear. I-I just wanted to protect you."

Alma frowned in confusion. She rubbed comforting circles on Enoch's back. Questioning him right now would be in vain. Several minutes later his sobs subsided and slowly but surely also the shaking of his shoulder stopped. But he didn't withdraw from their embrace. Alma quickly moved over to the couch and pulled his legs over her lap. His head still rested on her shoulder and Alma started to rock her boy back and forth until he had finally calmed down.

"Do you want to tell me what you are sorry for?" Alma asked and let her hand run through Enoch's hair. Normally the closed-up boy would never allow her to get so close but right now he sought her warmth and the comfort she could provide.

"A couple of days ago I talked to Mr. Thompson." He said quietly. "And I think I was not nice"

"What did you say?"

"I might have accused him of making you sad. I don't want you to be sad." Enoch explained. Alma thought about it for a minute then nodded.

"That is very nice of you to worry about me but what gives you the impression that I am sad?"

"Come on, I can hear you crying and night. All of us notice that you have trouble sleeping. And you always look sad. And I told him this needs to stop. At the end of our talk he didn't seem angry or at least not so angry that he would not return. But he has not been here for a couple of days and I am worried that it's my fault. Now I made you sad and I don't want that. I just want you to be happy." Enoch further buried his face in Alma's shoulder.

"Believe me, Enoch, if there is anyone who's scared him off, it's me. I rejected him quite frankly and I fear that was finally the straw that broke the camel's back." Alma sighed.

"Why did you reject him?"

"Well-" Alma thought about the question for a minute. "I was scared. Being an ymbryne means that putting my children first is my top priority."

"You were scared that you would neglect us, right? To be honest I was scared because of that as well. But then I realized that that is be pretty unfair, don't you think?" Enoch said smiling slightly.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I understand." Alma asked confused.

Then Enoch looked her directly into the eyes. "Miss P, it is finally time that someone looks after you too."


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello everybody! I cannot believe that this is already chapter 12!**

Long after her talk with Enoch was over Alma still sat in the parlor and thought about what Enoch had said. He had claimed that she deserved someone to look after her and that this not meant that she was neglecting her children. At the beginning everything he said made no sense to her. An ymbryne's top priority was caring for her children and not her own wellbeing, at least no beyond the sustainment of the capability to care for children. But the longer Enoch had talked the more she had to agree. She would never neglect her children! Thinking back when they were still living at Clairnholm and she didn't know Michael yet there had been of course a lot of work for her but there was also a lot of time when she was alone because her children were already sleeping or they were playing outside on their own. Those had been the times when she had wished for company the most. Why could she not look for someone who would spend those times with her? This would mean that she would have exactly the same amount of time for her children like before. This would not make her a bad ymbryne. For a moment she considered calling Miss Avocet. She regarded Miss Avocet as an authority person and getting her approval would mean a lot to her. But she decided against it. It had always been important to her that she was deciding her fate on her own.

So considering if-if-Alma would decide to talk to Michael about _them-_ whatever that meant-would not mean that everything changed from one day to the other, right? Alma took a deep breath and stood up. She looked at the clock. It was already way past midnight. _Screw it!_ She thought completely unlike herself. As fast as she could she stormed to the front door. She squeezed herself into her shoes and without even considering to take a coat with her she pulled the front door wide open and hurried down the stairs. She almost ran the couple of meters to Michael's front door. As she was just about to ring the doorbell she stopped herself. What was she doing?! Michael and his daughter were probably sleeping already and the only thing she would achieve was to wake them up. _But maybe he's not yet sleeping?_ Alma thought to herself. She decided to walk around the house to see if there was light burning anywhere. Alma felt like a thief as she tiptoed into the garden. Hopefully none of the neighbors had seen her and had called the police. That would be unbelievably embarrassing. In the garden there were not many places to hide. Michael obviously preferred his garden plane without any bushes or trees in it. There was only grass. For a minute Alma was glad for that so she would not be able to walk into a spider that had decided to build her net between trees. When they had first come to Florida she had been surprised at how big some of the spiders here actually were. When she had stumbled halfway across the garden suddenly a bright light blinded her. Alma raised her hand to protect her eyes from the bright light.

"Alma? What are you doing there?" Michael asked confused. Alma cleared her throat nervously. Quickly Michael took the light away from her face. "I almost called the police!"

"I am sorry. I-Isimply wanted to see if you were still awake." Alma explained weakly. Suddenly she felt stupid. She should have simply waited until tomorrow. A couple of hours more or less would not have changed anything.

But Michael didn't seem angry at all. He chuckled and then said "I wasn't but I am now. Would you fancy something to drink?"

Alma nodded thankfully. Together they made their way over to the house. Before entering Michael stopped and looked at the woman in front of him. "Okay, I have to ask. Why didn't you turn into a bird? That would have made your job a lot easier, wouldn't it?"

Alma cleared her throat again. "Well, I hoped that you were still awake"

Michael raised his eyebrow to indicate that he did not understand what Alma meant.

"My clothes don't transform with me. If I had turned back into a human I would be completely naked." Alma suddenly was happy that it was so dark because her cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

Michael grinned broadly but let the topic slip. He didn't need to challenge his luck too much. Right now he could not put into words how happy he was that she was here no matter what time of the night.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello everyone! Slowly this story is coming to an end. I think there will be just one chapter after this one. I am worried that this chapter might feel too rushed compared to the previous chapters but it just felt right writing it. So, what do you think?**

 **I could not believe my eyes when I saw that this story has more than 100 reviews! Thank you so much for your feedback! You are all amazing!**

Without waiting for an invitation Alma sat down on the couch. Now that she finally saw that he was not mad at her all the tension that had kept her up at night the last couple of days fell off and she felt tired. It was funny that the last weeks the thought of him coming too close had frightened her beyond believe and now imagining that she could never share a laugh with him again kept her up at night.

He joined her on the couch and handed her a drink. Alma eyed the transparent liquid curiously. "What's this?"

"Tequila" Alma raised her eyebrow and the corners of her mouth twitched slightly.

"That's not the kind of drink that would normally be offered to a lady"

"Oh really? Have you ever tried it?" Alma shook her head. "How do you know then that you don't like it?"

Alma shrugged. Michael handed her a slice of lemon and the salt shaker. Alma simply stared at it.

"What am I supposed to do with that?"

Michael chuckled. He turned her hand so that he could put some salt on the skin between her thumb and her index finger. "Now lick the salt, drink the shot and bite into the lemon, alright?"

"That is truly disgusting" Alma answered unbelievingly.

"It is but that's the fun. But if you absolutely don't want-"

But Michael was interrupted by Alma doing exactly what he had proposed. He could not hold back his laughter at her disgusted face when she bit into the lemon and the resulting cough afterwards.

"Are you alright?"

"That's disgusting. I don't want to do it again" Alma coughed and cleared her throat. She blinked a couple of times to get rid of the tears in her eyes that resulted from the stinging in her throat. It was not that she was not used to alcohol but normally she consumed it in a more ladylike manner.

"Oh, that's alright. But you tried it. I can ask for no more than that." Michael said softly. Alma looked away. She suddenly felt the urge to move. She stood up and started pacing the room.

"Alma, what's wrong?" Michael asked calmly.

Alma took a deep breath. "I am so scared" Her voice broke a bit at the end of the sentence and she cleared her throat again.

"Why are you scared, Alma?" After talking to her children he already had quite a good idea what was frightening her but he wanted her to say it out loud.

"Because I…like you" She hesitated for a couple of seconds. "And that is very scary"

"Well, I like you too" Michael answered. He extended his hand. After hesitating shortly Alma took it and sat down next to Michael again. Slowly he let his thumb draw circles on the back of her hand.

"I can imagine that it must be quite a challenge for you to balance your duties as an ymbryne and listening to your heart at the same time" Michael said quietly. Alma rested her head on Michael's shoulder as tears began to fall. Again.

Michael put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. He could not bear to see her cry but it was better than seeing her running off trying to deal with her problems on her own.

"I don't know what do you." Alma sobbed. "I came here because I missed you. Enoch said he wants me to have someone to look after me. I agreed but now I am not sure anymore. I don't want my children to think that I don't have time for them anymore. Why does everything have to be so difficult?"

"Ssh" Michael whispered quietly "Alma, nothing has to be difficult. Giving _us_ a try doesn't mean that everything has to change from one day to the other, okay? We have so much time Alma."

"But my children-"

"-are the most important thing in your life. And that's alright. I love Kathy also more than anything in the world. But shall I tell you a secret?" Michael whispered into Alma's ear. Feeling his hot breath against her skin caused a slight shiver to run down her spine. Alma nodded. "You come in close as second. And by the way I think your children are amazing, too. Believe me, I would be the first one to tell you if I had the feeling that they are missing out, okay?"

"I love Kathy too. I only know her for a couple of weeks but she is such a special girl"

"Just imaging what a peculiar family we could be."

"Family?" Alma asked like she had never heard a more beautiful word.

"Yes, family. You, me and all of our children"

Alma was silent for a couple of minutes. "But what if I…what if there is…I don't have much experience with…relationships."

"The only thing we can do is try. And if it works out that would be amazing but if it doesn't then at least we tried. Please don't put any pressure on you. You are perfect as you are and feeling nervous it completely normal. Just don't be scared, okay?"

"Thank you. Thank you for being so understanding." Alma whispered smiled gratefully at Michael.

"Always, Alma. Always."


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello everybody! I am terribly sorry that it took me so long to finally post the last chapter! I want to thank all of you again for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoy this last chapter!**

Two years later:

Alma was sitting on a blanket underneath one of Fiona's huge trees in their garden. In her arms her beautiful newborn daughter was sleeping. Alma allowed herself to close her eyes for a minute to savor the unusual quietness around her. Michael had taken the other children to the cinema to watch a movie. Two years after Michael and her had come together Michael was like a real father to them. After only a couple of weeks after their late night talk Michael had proposed to her. Normally, Alma would have not even considered marriage after such a short time but it just felt so _right._ It was so cute how Michael had asked the children for their approval as well. It had warmed her heart to see how the eyes of her little Claire shone with excitement and how the twins started to talk in their own language. Michael had listened to them and nodded from time to time as if he understood what the two were talking about. But it became clear that whatever they were saying was something positive when they ended their speech by hugging Michael. Enoch had only nodded but he had offered his hand to Michael to welcome him to their family.

One year ago in late spring they had married in a small ceremony. Afterwards Michael and her had been on honeymoon. Although Miss Avocet had watched over the children Alma couldn't stand to be far away from her charges so they had stayed in a small cottage at the beach only a couple of Miles away. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful time and both of them had cherished the time they spend together.

Two months later Alma had realized that something was different. She had constantly felt sick in the morning and something had always felt…different. When she had taken a pregnancy test and it turned out positive she had been nervous and excited at the same time. It was very rare that ymbrynes had children of their own and Alma of course had never expected to have a biological child one day. For a moment her old fear of neglecting her children had returned but like always Michael had managed to calm her down. Alma was sure that she had hardly every feared anything as much as she telling her children about the pregnancy. She had expected them to be jealous and angry. She had expected them to be afraid to be ranked second (even if she would never allow herself to favor any of her children over the other even if it was her biological child). But in contrast to her expectations the were beyond exited! Claire even started shouting with pure joy in her voice: "I am going to be a big sister!" The older children expressed their happiness as well. Even Enoch smiled as he congratulated them.

Over the next couple of weeks Alma caught her younger children practicing handling a baby with their dolls. Alma could not be happier. She was married to the perfect man and had the best charges one could possibly imagine and now their big family would be completed by her own biological child.

Several months later her beautiful baby girl was born and she was faced with completely new challenges. Claire had been already two years old when she had tad taken her in. Looking after a newborn child Alma realized that she was on completely unknown terrain. She was very glad that Michael was there to look after the young one too. More than once he had gotten up to look after their child when she had been crying in the middle of the night or he had let her sleep in the morning getting the older children ready for the day on his own. Sometimes like today he would take the other children to town which gave her a couple of hours for herself. Although she loved her family more than anything else she enjoyed those times immensely. She needed those times too. It gave her time to think. Mostly her thoughts revolved around her family and how each and every one of its members had changed her life. She would never forget the days that she had taken in her children and met her husband. Right now her life couldn't be more perfect.


End file.
